


Big Red Button

by UnicornsAreTheShiz



Category: Voltron - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Bad Ending, Gen, Langst, Maybe - Freeform, Sadness, i think I'll do two endings, sorry - Freeform, why do i do this to my son
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-20 22:09:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11344074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornsAreTheShiz/pseuds/UnicornsAreTheShiz
Summary: Lance didn't mean to make an evil cone of himself; he really didn't! It's just that big, red buttons are really hard NOT to press! He didn't even press it! He just gently scraped his finger across it! It's like the whole world is against him!





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to have the real evil clone be referred as "Lance #2" by the real Lance. I'm going to have the team refer to the real Lance as "Fake Lance" as they think Lance is the clone at some point. To make it less confusing, when the team refers to who they think is the real Lance, I'll use a weird font.

Lance didn't mean to make an evil copy of himself; he really didn't! It's just that very bright red buttons are really hard NOT to press. He didn't even press the button down! He just gently scraped his finger against it. It's like the whole world is against him!

This days mission was to go to save a planet who's name can't be pronounced in the human language, so it was resorted to Crezix. The planet's inhabitants (named Crez) were bee like creatures that looked like humans, but were all seven feet tall and were much skinnier. On top of that; they had giant round eyes, and had insect like wings, antennas, and sharp spikes along their spine. 

That wasn't what freaked Lance out; though they did look pretty freaky. What freaked out Lance was the fast that they all looked identical to each other and had the same personality! The queen was the only one who looked different, and it was only that she was around ten feet tall. Moving along, the thick, red water that was on the planet had rumors of giving the drinker strength.

Zarkon was obviously interested so they started collecting the water to drink, but once they realized that it gave them no extra strength, they started trying to kill the inhabitants and take the quintessence from the planet. Zarkon's fleet sent out a giant robo-beast that spit acid and dug into the ground and popped out at random places. It was pain to kill, but Lance was proud to say he had the genius idea to start freezing over the holes that the robo-beast dug. After that, it was stuck in one hole, and Pidge used their vines to hold the beast in place while Keith used his fire power to kill it. 

Once it was defeated, the voice com erupted in various cheers and 'good jobs'. Afterwards, the Crez held a celebration of sorts in their large "castle" (it was like a huge hotel since everyone lived there on the floors above) and since they had a ballroom, they had a feast with dancing. The Crez considered dancing spinning around in circles, but it was fun nonetheless. Hunk claimed he was heaven since the food was actually pretty good. Most of it was the thick water, but it tasted like sour melons which is a thousand times better than bland food goo.

Pidge had fun interacting with the Crez's surprisingly advanced technology, Shiro had fun talking with Allura and the queen Crez, Hunk was collecting information on ingredients, and Keith seemed like he was actually enjoying himself a little. Lance was definitely having fun, but it got boring once everyone sort of scattered to do their own thing.

Lance decided exploring would be fun, and he kind of wanted to get some quiet time for himself. Now that might be weird to imagine as it's eerily silent in the castle about ninety percent of the time and the paladins usually relished in the noise of celebrations, but Lance wanted a different kind of silence. He wanted the kind of silence where he was by himself but there was the noise in the background. It was a comforting silence he was used to. Having a large family meant having a lot of noise. 

He was a middle child so he was used to the loud parties from older siblings and little siblings crying from nightmares. It unnerved him to no end when he heard no noise at night at the castle. The lack of noise at night only amplified his thoughts. Before Lance knew it, he was on the other side of the castle and there were only occasional Crez walking past. He looked around him and saw he was in a round room with various buttons and a few boards in the wall.

He took in his surroundings as he relished in the distant background music and chatter. As he turned, Lance spotted that cursed giant red button and felt himself drawn to it. It was basically begging to be pushed! As he reached his hand forward, a Crez walked by and noticed Lance about to touch it. "Don't touch it!" the Crez yelled out, but as Lance whipped around to see who was yelling at him, he accidentally scraped his finger past it. Before he knew it, he was frozen in place and a red light surrounded him and he felt a slight burning sensation on his skin. Suddenly he knew it, he was lying on the ground and saw himself get up and run out of the room. 

Wait.... HIMSELF?!? Lance was f r e a k e d out and thought he might faint. "OH GOD I'M DEAD AREN'T I???" Lance shrieked. The Crez from earlier sighed and spoke with an exasperated tone, "No; you're not dead. You just had a clone of yourself made, and we don't know how it's going to act on your kind since this cloning beam was made to make more of our kind to fight Zarkon's forces."

This did not help calm down Lance one bit and he bursted out running to get to the team. Coran or Allura would know something about this and everything would be just fine and dandy.

As Lance entered the ballroom where everyone was, he stared the embodiment of chaos itself in the eye. He saw Lance #2 standing on a table with what he assumed was a Crez's version of a baseball bat in hand.

He saw Allura ready to commit murder but being held back by a disappointed Shiro. He saw Pidge hiding under another table across the room, and Hunk lying at the ground staring at Lance #2. The final nail in the coffin was Keith with his bayard in hand but so utterly confused it seemed like it seeped out of him. 

The Crez were starting to run out, and as Lance entered the room and processed everything he let out a choked sound. At that, everyone turned to him. Allura's anger turned to confusion, Shiro just cocked his head, Pidge's eyeballs looked like they were on the verge of exploding out of her head. Hunk fainted (Lance doesn't blame him), and though it didn't seem possible, Keith looked even more confused than before with his jaw dropped. 

Everyone turned their heads back and forth between Lance and Lance #2. Lance yelled out, "It's a clone!" but it kind of slurred together so it sounded like 'ITZACLONE'.  
At that, Allura yelled out, "Grab the clone!" 

This made Shiro release her and start chasing after Lance #2. Pidge got out from under the table, pulled out her bayard and used it to act like a lasso at Lance #2. Surprisingly, Lance #2 slid down across the table and the lasso missed. Hunk was still passed out, and Keith started running after Lance #2 with his mouth still open. Lance started sprinting after Lance #2 as well and before long they had cornered Lance #2.

Shiro stepped closer but that apparently set Lance #2 off because he leaped at Shiro and pushed off Shiro's back. Before anyone could comprehend anything, Lance #2 landed in front of Lance and grabbed Lance's hand. Lance was pulled into a room and the door was shut. 

Lance #2 spun both himself and Lance around in a circle before suddenly standing still. Just as Shiro opened the door, Lance number #2 grabbed Lance's arms and held him down. "I got him! Quick, grab him from me!" 

Lance #2 yelled out. Much to Lance's protests, Shiro grabbed hold of Lance and held his arms behind him. "What?! No I'm the real Lance! Come on can't you tell!" Lance screeched. 

Lance #2 jumped back. "Is that really how I sound to you guys? Wow my voice is angelic!" Lance #2 said with a chuckle.

Allura sighed and said "Yeah; that's definitely the real Lance." as she gestured towards Lance #2.  
Lance struggled as Shiro gently pulled him back to the ballroom, obviously not wanting to hurt Lance, clone or not. Once they arrived, they tied Lance up with some kind of rubbery rope from the Crez.  
Lance stopped trying to yell out how he was the real Lance; his voice was tired and no one seemed like they were going to believe him anytime soon.  
The Crez asked Lance #2 why he was in the room and what exactly happened. Lance #2 responded to why he was there, saying he was bored. As for the other question, Lance #2 awkwardly chuckled and said he didn't actually know what happened after he pressed the button. The paladins nodded slightly, while the Crez gave Lance #2 a strange look. Lance could swear he saw doubt go across their faces, but he couldn't be sure. 

The Crez suggested keeping Lance in the jail and come back in around a week since they needed to study the effects. They took blood samples from both Lances, and sent the paladins on their way.  
Once they reached the castle, Lance was put in the prison hold which was a pod similar to the one Sendak was in, and frankly; Lance was offended. Before long though, Lance felt a nudge at his consciousness similar to that from the Cryopod. Once the team realized he was the real Lance, they'd be crawling back. Lance knew he was the best, but the grim idea of the team not even noticing lingered at the back of his head as he fell asleep.

The team's P.O.V

As soon as Fake Lance fell asleep, everyone collapsed in the main room on the couches and started lecturing Lance about being more responsible. Lance nodded and agreed that he wouldn't do it again. 

The following days, the team noticed Lance acting a little strange, but they thought nothing of it. In fact, they liked it. Lance was doing better in close combat training and was just generally not goofing off as much.  
Sure; Pidge felt slightly bored without Lance interrupting and asking questions, and yeah; Pidge was having a harder time coming up with ideas without bouncing ideas against Lance. Yes, maybe Hunk would've liked Lance to joke a bit more.  
Keith might miss Lance starting fights, but Lance still joked (albeit not as much as usual), and Lance still started fights with Keith (though not as many and they burned out quickly), and Lance still asked questions (but he asked fewer questions and he seemed less interested). 

The team all chalked this done to him feeling guilty about the whole clone accident, so the team sat him down and talked to him. "Lance are you doing okay? You haven't been acting like yourself." Shiro asked Lance.  
Lance shifted uncomfortably and brushed his hand through his hair as he replied, "What? Yeah I'm fine. Just a little weird having a clone of you out there, heh heh."

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other before Hunk said, "We just don't want you to blame yourself for what happened."  
Lance looked at them and shrugged, "I won't! Is there anything else?" Lance asked.  
The team shook their head and everyone slowly dispersed; everyone but Pidge and Hunk. Pidge turned to Hunk, "Lance brushed his fingers through his hair; something's wrong." Pidge said.  
Hunk nodded, "You picked up on it too? I don't know; even when he's stressed out, he doesn't do it." he said with a sigh. The two of the, separated and continued with what they usually do. 

The following few days were agreeably weird. First; Hunk couldn't find his wrench. This wouldn't be particularly unusual if he hadn't taken great measures so he wouldn't loose it. Then; Pidge found a virus on her computer.  
It was really weird since Altean and Galran devices didn't seem to get viruses, so there shouldn't be any on her computer from downloading information. Upon closer expectation, Pidge could tell that it was created by a person. 

It was sloppy alright, but it did take a good 2 minutes to kill which was pretty long in Pidge's book. Whoever did it knew the basics of what they were doing, but they were definitely not good at it. Hunk knew the basics of coding, but he was too nice to do it. Coran was a good mechanic, but he knew nothing about Earth computers. So Pidge ignored it.  
What got people concerned, though, was when one of Keith's gloves went missing. Keith always were his gloves, so everyone was now concerned. They had Coran check the security footage and what they saw shocked them. 

They saw Lance sneak into Hunk's room to steal a wrench, Lance go into Pidge's room to add a virus, and they saw Lance steal Keith's glove. After a long moment of silence they turned to where Lance was. He visibly backed away before smirking and running off. The smirk looked too mean spirited to belong to Lance, and it un-nerved everyone before they started running after him.  
As they turned the corner, Lance was no where in sight. Dang was he fast! They split up; Pidge and Hunk taking the East wing, Shiro and Allura taking the West wing, and Keith searching random rooms in between. As Keith was checking the training room, Lance struck.  
He came up behind Keith and kicked his legs out from under him. Keith turned his head just as Lance tackled Keith on the floor and held Keith's arms down with his own. Lance then shifted his knee to press against Keith's neck. As Lance applied more pressure he spoke, "I know this might not be very nice, but no one is ever truly nice in life. I mean, look at this! You put your so called 'friend' in a jail pod and let his clone go because I made a comment on my voice! It's hilarious." 

Keith's eyes widened and that sent Lance into another laughter burst. "I'd hate to cut this short, but I gotta go." Lance said as he pressed his knee even harder into Keith's neck. Keith felt himself start to loose conciseness and flung his body his side as hard as he could.  
This knocked Lance to the ground and gave Keith a few seconds to take quick gulps of air. After Lance regained his footing, he dove after Keith. Keith rolled out of the way but not before grabbing Lance's arm and twisting it behind his back. Lance turned his head at an angle before a cruel smirk appeared on his face. "Training Sequence start: level twenty." Lance said.  
Immediately, training bots appeared all around them, and as Keith was distracted, Lance pushed him off.  
"Stop training sequence!" Keith shouted. The bots still came and started preparing themselves to fight.  
"You know the funny thing about the training simulator is that after a certain level, the training bots only stop after the user is defeated or wins. Of course, if you shut off the simulator manually, it will shut off. Too bad you can't do that." Lance's voice shouted and Keith turned.  
Lance was on the other side of the room, by the door. Before Keith could run after him, he was struck in ribs, air leaving his lungs and sending him to the ground. Keith could hear Lance's footsteps run down the hallway as he tried to fight off the training bots.


	2. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Evil Clone Lance being evil. Also; I found out that the fonts didn't carry over from when I made this on Microsoft Word, and I have no idea how to do the fonts on here so I'm just gonna hope you can read it. Fun fact; I had to browse five different sites of flower meaning before settling on Blue Forget-me-nots because the name implies something. *cough, cough* Langst *cough, cough*. Anyways; I hope you enjoy!

Pidge and Hunk were having no luck finding Lance. They checked almost all the rooms in the East wing and were ready to give up when they heard a loud thump coming from the kitchen. The kitchen itself was a stark white room that always made Hunk feel a little homesick. The kitchen was a warm and colorful place for his family, and it always made him sad that the kitchen was so boring. 

As Pidge and Hunk ran into the kitchen, Pidge spotted a weird human shaped lump under a large blanket. Pidge held up a finger to her mouth as she pointed to the lump. Slowly, Pidge and Hunk crept towards the lump.  
Hunk moved to the opposite side of the lump, and on a court of three on their fingers, they threw open the blanket. 

All there was under the blanket were pillows and smaller blankets in the assorted position of a human. Pidge looked up from the pillows to Hunk, "Guess he's not here. That's so weird that he would try tricking u- HUNK WATCH OUT!" Pidge shouted out as Lance dropped from the ceiling and landing on Hunk.  
As soon as Lance landed on Hunk, he wrapped his arms around Hunk's throat. Pidge froze before running over to Hunk. Pidge desperately tried to yank Lance's hands away from Hunk's throat, but Lance just dug his nail into Hunk's neck. Hunk sputtered out a quiet 'sorry' before jumping backwards onto the floor, effectively throwing Lance under him.  
Lance released his hands just long enough for Hunk to move and push Lance away. As Hunk recovered on the other side of the room, Pidge leaped into action. 

Pidge reached for Lance's arm but Lance rolled to the side. He backed up by the food goo dispensers and reached for a nozzle. Pidge understood what he was thinking and she dashed over to Hunk just as Lance shot goo where Pidge had just been. Pidge grabbed hold of Hunk's hand and helped him up right as Lance's next shot hit the wall beside them.  
As Pidge and Hunk sprinted to the other wall of the room, Pidge pondered something. Lance could make the shot evil or not. Why had he not shot them? As Pidge and Hunk dodged each shot, they eventually began to drift near the doors. Lance noticed this, but didn't look worried, and Pidge figured out why.  
Before they could reach the doors in their last sprint, Lance turned and shot at the control panel beside it. Instantly, sparks started flying and the door slid closed with a definite thud. Hunk started banging on the door and Pidge turned to Lance. He turned to them with a smirk and Pidge realized; Lance was toying with them.  
They both knew that a food goo dispenser gun wouldn't really hurt them. No; Lance had something planned, and it was much more serious than this sad game of cat and mouse. Lance started sprinting towards them with the hose, and Pidge started running to the left.  
Pidge knew before it happened what she didn't account for. As Pidge tried to run to the left, Hunk was still banging on the door, oblivious to Lance coming towards them. Pidge didn't have the strength to yank an unknowing Hunk to the left and so Pidge ended up almost falling to the floor.  
Hunk turned to Pidge with a questioning look before glancing at the dangerously close Lance. Hunk tried running to the left with Pidge, but he was too late. Lance ran to Pidge's left side and forcefully grabbed hold of Pidge's arm. Lance then sprinted around Pidge and Hunk, and before they could blink, Pidge's arm was wrapped around Hunk along with the hose.  
Lance continued to wrap the hose around them with insane speed, erasing all the power they had to move. Lance finally stopped running when he started tying intricate knots and bows. Pidge couldn't handle her curiosity when asking Lance, "How do you know how to tie so well?!".  
Lance turned to Pidge before chuckling. "Luckily, I got hold of the original Lance's memories and he was in Boy Scouts for three years. It was almost heart touching how stupid and excited he looked getting those feeble badges. At least it came in somewhat use." Lance said before finishing the last knot. 

He slowly made his way to Hunk's side. "Haven't spoken a lot recently have we, Hunk? Why? Does your throat hurt? Oopsies. Strangling you wasn't needed in the final plan, but it did make my time with you lowly creatures worth it. Now, no need to give me such a look. I am your best buddy Lance, aren't I?" 

Pidge couldn't tell what Hunk's face looked like, but Pidge could imagine it didn't look nice. Lance sighed as he said, "Sorry; I must be going. My plans are almost in place. Don't forget that the original Lance's favorite flowers were Blue forget-me-nots. Just a fun little fact that'll come in handy after my plan." 

With that, Lance proceeded to climb up into the vent he had just come out of. Hunk stayed quiet, but continued to wiggle around in the binds. Pidge's mind was racing; Pidge couldn't find many reasons why they should remember the real Lance's favorite flowers, but the main one felt like a heavy weight within her gut. Pidge started to desperately call for help and Hunk joined in. 

 

Part two: Shiro and Allura

 

Shiro and Allura had just finished scoping out the last of the rooms on the West wing when they heard Pidge and Hunk's yells. Shiro looked towards Allura, and she nodded back as they sprinted towards the East wing. With each step, they heard Pidge and Hunk's voice become more clear and louder. "They're in the kitchen." Shiro said as he sped up.  
Allura sped up as well and was going quite faster than Shiro. He chalked it down to the fact that Alteans seemed to be pretty hardcore when it came to training. The team had at first struggled at a training simulation that was apparently 'a level fit for an Altean child' according to Allura, so it didn't seem too far off to think that cardiac exercises were maybe just a tad more extreme than Earth's. 

Once they reached the kitchen, they saw the doors sealed shut. Shiro banged on the door while Allura tried messing with the control panel. Allura turned to Shiro and hastily shook her head. Shiro nodded before activating his robotic arm and slashed through the door.  
Once he had made a big enough hole, he and Allura climbed through it. They entered and saw Pidge and Hunk tied up with the hose from the food goo dispenser. Once they saw Shiro and Allura their faces twisted into obvious relief. "Are you guys okay? Why are you tied up with the goo hose?" Shiro asked with concern.  
As Shiro stepped towards Pidge and Hunk to untie them, he noticed a forming bruise on Pidge's forehead and a thick red mark around Hunk's neck. Shiro felt chills run down his spine and he hurried even faster to untie them. Pidge whipped her head up to Shiro before hurriedly speaking, "This Lance isn't the real Lance! The Lance we locked up is the real one, and we've been interacting with the Fake Lance. He tried to kill us both." 

Shiro looked surprised before darkening. He finished uniting the first layer of the many knots tying Pidge and Hunk together. "Okay one, are you sure you're okay? Two, why are these knots so well done?" Shiro asked to them, though the latter of the questions was mostly to himself.  
Hunk responded anyway, voice sounding raspy. "I'm pretty sure it's because Lance went to Boy Scouts for three straight years when he was a kid. He took it pretty seriously." Pidge figured out that Hunk knew about Lance being a boy scout before the Fake Lance told them.

It wasn't hard for any of them to see Lance doing something like Boy Scouts as a child; this made his competitive personality make even more sense.  
Once Shiro finished untying them, Pidge jumped up and almost head butted Shiro in the nose. "We have to go to the jail pods! Let's get Lance out of there and take down the Fake Lance! Fake Lance has some kind of evil plan and I think it involves Lance getting seriously hurt!" Pidge said before helping Hunk up.  
Shiro and Allura looked taken aback before motioning them to the hole in the doors. Everyone started sprinting out of the kitchen and in the direction of the jail pods when they saw Keith stumbling out of the training room. He had a set of nasty bruises along his jaw and was limping slightly. Shiro and Allura rushed over to him and helped hold up Keith as Shiro questioned, "Don't tell me Lance did this to you?!".

Keith shook his head, but winced afterwards. "No; he set the training bots on level twenty. The bots don't stop until you beat them or fall unconscious. Sadly, I used the latter to get out of there." Keith said as he limped along. Everyone looked visually shocked as they heard this, and started walking just a little slower.  
"What happened to you guys?" Keith said as he looked over his shoulder at Pidge and Hunk.  
"Pidge got hit by the food goo thing and I got strangled" Hunk said as he sighed. Keith cringed and continued on walking.  
Once they got to the jail pods, they knew they had gotten there too late. The real Lance was leaning against the pod, stumbling to walk.  
"Lance!" Hunk called out, sprinting to him with Pidge. Before they could reach him, Fake Lance came out from the shadows.  
The grin on his face was stretched so wide it looked painful to hold, and his eyes looked wild. The look reminded them of a serial killer, and for it to be on Lance's face felt in natural as well as severely unnerving.  
"Finally here are we? Good. The plans will be shortly. You'll want to grab some popcorn because it's going to get a lot more interesting. Well, anything with me in it is interesting." Fake Lance said as he neared them.  
The line reminded them of exactly something Lance would say, and it hurt that it came from this monster.


End file.
